Waikato Table Tennis Rising Star "Aaron Page"

Waikato player, Aaron Page (pictured), confirmed his status as a rising star in the NZ table tennis scene by finishing runner-up in the senior boys singles at the NZ Secondary Schools Championships held in North Harbour this week.  On the way to the final Aaron caused a massive upset with a 3 games to 1 win over NZ's top junior, Kevin Wu.  Kevin, having recently returned from 3 months training in China and a successful appearance in the inaugural Youth Olympics, had no answer for the controlled brilliance Aaron was able to produce during the match.  Aaron was able to exploit Kevin's weaker backhand side with his own backhand, which proved stronger on the day.  This allowed Aaron to work his powerful topspin forehand into the game, a shot that produced many winners.

Aaron's semi-final match against Terry Zeng started as might have been expected, with a let down after the high of the previous match.  But after an 11-2 hiding in the first game, Aaron impressively recovered his composure to comfortably win the next 3 games.  In the final Aaron looked a little flat against the experienced and highly skilled Lingnan Kong.  Aaron competed well but Lingnan proved too consistent and skillful, able to get his attack in first and piling on pressure in the rallies.

Aaron's success followed up a successful Auckland Open during the weekend.  Results of note included;

• Peter Craven and Myles Collins winning the mens' doubles, defeating top NZ pair Nathan Lowe and Ryan Zhu in the semi-final.
• Peter Craven reaching the semi-finals of the men's singles, beating NZ men's team member at the Oceanias and World Teams Champs, Nathan Lowe, in the quarter-final.
• Aaron Page finishing runner-up in the 'A' grade singles and then teaming with his older brother Mark to win the doubles..
• Jessica MacAskill finishing runner-up in the under 21 women's singles, beating top NZ juniors Angie Guo and Dawn Ee ont the way to the final.
• Myles Collins teamed with North Harbour's Mitchell Barker to win the under 21 doubles beating Waikato pair, James Harter and Matt Hetherington in the final.
• Waikato favourite, Sarah Her-Lee, in her first year playing for Auckland winning the women's singles with a fighting win over recent arrival from China, Vickie Yang, 11-9 in the 7th, recovering from a 1-3 deficit.
• Sarah teamed with Taiwanese visitor, Peggy Chen, to win the women's doubles. 

Peggy, interupting her trip to NZ as a tourist for a little training just before the tournament, proved a popular addition to the Waikato High Performance Squad during her brief stay.  Peggy, a Masters student at the National Taiwan Sport University (Taichung), follows a visit by a group from the University led by Professor Sheng Wu in 2008..  Waikato has established a strong connection with the University with Amy Chiu based in Hamilton and and Waikato players Sarah Her-Lee, Michelle McCarthy and Simon Hoey-Burns having visited Taiwan to train at the university.

Posted Sept 2010